On a different note, Miss E selected her novel for the month of October yesterday. This month it's mysteries. She had told me she hates mysteries, but I reminded her that she's very fond of Scooby-Doo stories. I suggested that she look for one with animals in the pile offered, as there weren't likely to be any Scooby-Doo's. She selected one from a series of mysteries set around the planet, this one about Antarctica. So it includes penguins, one of her favorite topics. And very little spirituality, though Miss E informed me that the characters prayed the ice floe wouldn't break early in the book when their plane landed on it. I told her that was understandable under those circumstances.

The Dude and I checked the book out and it's night and day to last month's book. This book is clearly 4th grade reading level, it's listed as 4.8. It has some complexity regarding scientists and place names, but not relationships. It will build her vocabulary, but not with words like 'depression' and 'divorce.' Instead with a word like 'adamant,' something Miss E already knows how to be. SAT vocabulary words and various activities are listed helpfully in the back of the book.

I did find myself wondering where the heck the school library gets all these self-published books, though. I'm not knocking whether this is good, mind you. I'm just in awe that the library seems to have such a large collection of them. How does one market this stuff to school libraries? It's almost like there's such a dearth of basic material so they will buy anything if it's cheap enough. Get yourself a formula, be a bit clever with the execution, find yourself some school libraries. Voila. Career.

Frog Out

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Yes, penguins have been on her brain since she saw March of the Penguins at age 5. Her latest passion is manatees. She wants to save some when we next go to Florida, or at least try to visit a rescue mission.